ISC pockets Microsoft and Citrix V-Alliance accreditation

ISC has become the second reseller to bag the V-Alliance accreditation in the UK, a programme developed by Microsoft and Citrix to take on VMware.

Birmingham-based SCC became the first entrant to the scheme that offers partner training, sales and marketing support to grow the adoption of joint Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer and XenDesktop suites.

The desktop and server virtualisation practice at ISC is one of the facets that has attracted acquisitive channel player Kelway, which is currently in talks with the firm.

The V-Alliance programme will be open to just a small band of Microsoft and Citrix resellers with potential candidates required to identify and file three joint project leads and sit numerous sales, pre-sales and technical certifications.

Ross Brown, vice president of worldwide partner sales at Microsoft, said partners needed to have the "skills and depth of technical experience" to qualify, a point echoed by Kevin Bland, UK, Ireland and South Africa channel director at Citrix.

This week, IndependenceIT unveiled the 4.0 version of Cloud Workspace Suite, which features a number of enhancements; Knowledge Vault launched a partner program for its cloud-based analytics-as-a-service platform; and more.

Value-added resellers and service providers interested in reselling Aruba networking hardware and software can learn the benefits of becoming an Aruba Networks partner with this standardized checklist. Compare Aruba's reseller partner program with other vendors' offering similar products.